DJI to launch crop-spraying drone in effort to expand into farming sector
1–10 of 17 posts
Re: DJI to launch crop-spraying drone in effort to expand into farming sector
#2How does this get around all the heavy faa regulation?
Re: DJI to launch crop-spraying drone in effort to expand into farming sector
#3How does this get around all the heavy faa regulation?
Not only FAA, there are additional regulations that prohibit use of aerial vehicles to spray crops. The reason to do that is to minimise chemical pollution to other fields/nature. These regulations depend on country and few other things.
Re: DJI to launch crop-spraying drone in effort to expand into farming sector
#4BBC Article - http://www.bbc.com/news/technology-34944136
Re: DJI to launch crop-spraying drone in effort to expand into farming sector
#5I can see the possible benefit for small vineyards & farms, but at 4ha/hr it would take more than a week to cover a single paddock (field) of ours. Although I'd assume the controlling software would have good route planning, probably driven by drones doing weed spotting and NDVI/biomass analysis
I'd also like to know more about the kind of infrastructure you'd need to support autonomous operations, because if they're not autonomous they still a step behind current farm equipment.
Interesting how the WSJ and BBC articles contradict each other, one claiming plans are inexpensive while the other claiming they are. We use planes to complement our machinery, and they definitely aren't prohibitively expensive, and have far more use than just spraying chemical.
Re: DJI to launch crop-spraying drone in effort to expand into farming sector
#6How does this get around all the heavy faa regulation?
Not only FAA, there are additional regulations that prohibit use of aerial vehicles to spray crops. The reason to do that is to minimise chemical pollution to other fields/nature. These regulations depend on country and few other things.
Crop dusting is very common in many countries: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aerial_application
Re: DJI to launch crop-spraying drone in effort to expand into farming sector
#7I can see the possible benefit for small vineyards & farms, but at 4ha/hr it would take more than a week to cover a single paddock (field) of ours. Although I'd assume the controlling software would have good route planning, probably driven by drones doing weed spotting and NDVI/biomass analysis I'd also like to know more about the kind of infrastructure you'd need to support autonomous operations, because if they're…
at 15k versus the cost of a helicopter or plane i think the solution is to simply buy a fleet of however many you need.
Re: DJI to launch crop-spraying drone in effort to expand into farming sector
#8I can see the possible benefit for small vineyards & farms, but at 4ha/hr it would take more than a week to cover a single paddock (field) of ours. Although I'd assume the controlling software would have good route planning, probably driven by drones doing weed spotting and NDVI/biomass analysis I'd also like to know more about the kind of infrastructure you'd need to support autonomous operations, because if they're…
at 15k versus the cost of a helicopter or plane i think the solution is to simply buy a fleet of however many you need.
This introduces a coordination problem that is easy in principle (just like concurrency on a multicore machine is easy in principle).
Re: DJI to launch crop-spraying drone in effort to expand into farming sector
#9How does this get around all the heavy faa regulation?
DJI is a Chinese company. I'm assuming they'll have a huge market regardless of whether US regulators move on this issue.
Re: DJI to launch crop-spraying drone in effort to expand into farming sector
#10I can see the possible benefit for small vineyards & farms, but at 4ha/hr it would take more than a week to cover a single paddock (field) of ours. Although I'd assume the controlling software would have good route planning, probably driven by drones doing weed spotting and NDVI/biomass analysis I'd also like to know more about the kind of infrastructure you'd need to support autonomous operations, because if they're…
How long would it take to cover a single paddock using more standard techniques (manned aerial or ground-based)?